


A lot of snow

by Pomelofangirl



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, fluff when they are little, set in the highspeed timeline, snow and winter activities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2832137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomelofangirl/pseuds/Pomelofangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It snowed a lot that day so we made snowmen."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A lot of snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hinalilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinalilly/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to you, Hinalilly~!

"Nanase! Oi, Nanase!"

"…What is it?"

"Look! It’s snowing!"

Haruka Nanase looked out through the window of the classroom, belonging to Iwatobi Elementary School. Indeed, from the pale gray sky, white petals of snow were falling down to the ground.

Those who had their benches nearest to the window, scooted closer to it and admired the slowly falling snowflakes. The rest of the class just cast glances out the window and continued their work.

Haruka thought nothing of the fact that it was snowing, even though it was the end of February and the snow was less than usual at this time of the year.

The only thought he had was that it would be more difficult to run to the swim-club, and surely this Matsuoka kid would talk even more, because who would run in the snow? They would slowly walk and make idle talk, something that Haruka was not fond of.

Snow was also a form of water, but it wasn’t as fluid. One couldn’t swim in it, and it was definitely colder than water, because it’s temperature can be regulated.

Matsuoka, of course, the hyperactive guy he was, had run to the window and looked at snow fascinated—as if he’d never seen snow in his life. Considering he was from Sano, it couldn’t be the first time he’d seen snow falling, the town wasn’t that far away from Iwatobi.

“Teacher, can we please make snowmen?”

The teacher smiled gently but told the redhead to return to his seat. There was no reason they should stop the lesson, be it snow, rain, or sakura blossoms.

As Haruka earlier predicted, running to the swim-club was difficult, if not impossible. The snow was still falling, so the visibility was limited, and the snow on the ground made better sounds when they walked more slowly.

Matsuoka and Makoto didn’t seem to mind the walking, and were chatting about something that Haru tried to not pay any attention to.

He couldn’t be excluded for too long, because Matsuoka asked him a question he expected an answer to, but Haru couldn’t really remember it.

He looked at the redhead’s face as if the question would be written on Matusoka’s forehead. It wasn’t, but his eyes seemed to shine with a light akin to sunshine. In the middle of the snow falling.

“I asked you if you ever tried skiing. Or snowboarding maybe?”

“I did. It… wasn’t really my thing.”

“Haru fell over many times before he even learned how to balance on the snowboard.” Makoto answered for him, with a kind tone. Haruka didn’t know if he should be relieved or annoyed that Makoto always said the things he thought, but didn’t want to tell. Especially to a guy like Matsuoka.

“Is it really that hard? It should be easy… like when you skate for example, it’s basically that but on snow! And the motions can be really fluid, as if you were swimming trough the snow down the slope!”

“I haven’t really tried skateboarding. Ever.”

“Ahh, I see. Well, I only tried skiing once, but it was really great!” Rin smiled at the memory and Haru really could tell that it made him happy.

“Why were you so excited about the snow anyways? You did see it earlier, right?” either Makoto was trying to be polite, or he was going out of his way to ask the questions Haru did not have the guts to ask.

“Well, you see… it doesn’t snow that often over here, right? And every time it did, I was down with a cold, and only Sousuke and Kou could play in the snow. They always made a snowman with shark teeth and I could only watch them trough the window. So I thought, now, when I’m not sick and it’s snowing, why not make them together—right?”

The suggestion was weird. Why did Matsuoka assume that they would want to build a snowman with him?

They neared the swim-club and Haru was excused from answering the sudden question.

By the time they arrived there, the snow had stopped falling and Haruka thought that Matsuoka had forgotten about building snowmen. (Why would that be better than swimming?)

But Matsuoka didn’t give up on his idea of building snowmen.

Coach Sasabe was as enthusiastic as Rin, it seemed.

“Why wait until after practice? Let’s make a competition for the best snowman, right now!”

“But… what about swimming?”

“You can swim every other day of the week, but this much snow is perfect for making snowmen. And it’s really rare, so let’s do it, Nanase,” said Matsuoka while he formed a snowball and attempted to aim it at Haru.

Haruka predicted it and dodged the aim. The snowball hit the wall of the swim-club.

“Bet I can make a cooler snowman than yours!”

They had half an hour to build ‘the greatest and most original snowman’ ever.

Most people from the swim-club did the traditional snowman, consisting of two large snowballs, with marked eyes, noses and mouth. Some had snowy scarves.

Rin wouldn’t be satisfied by a normal snowman. It had to be a shark, except the fin would be lame and not big enough to be noticed.

Haruka, observing that Matsuoka had another idea, gave up on his mackerel idea and built something cooler than that, helped by Makoto.

It wasn’t a race about time, this was more about creativity and who can do a better, more magnificent snowman.

Rin finished first with a little detail. To show it was a magnificent shark, he made a distinct trail of water in the place the shark touched the ground. It seemed as if the fish made of snow was breaching the surface, with a fierce “Roarrrr!” Rin was satisfied it was a sight that would inspire everyone who saw such a shark.

When he finished, he looked at what Haru and Makoto were doing.

Rin wouldn’t admit it but their snowman—could it even be called a snowman?—was more impressive than his.

It was a dolphin, akin to the one on the trophy one gets when you win the relay.

Makoto was saying something about how “it’s not possible to make a dolphin from snow.” And physically, it shouldn’t be possible – what dolphin could stand on only it’s back fins, touching the ground?

But Haruka hadn’t listened to him, and made the final touches.

He finished last but his smooth, white snow dolphin was definitely the most original of the snowmen.

Someone from the personnel of the swim-club took a photo, while the children were working on their snow figures.

A minute after the photo was taken, the snowy dolphin collapsed, landing on the shark making both snow figures not distinguishable.

Matsuoka didn’t seem to mind at all.

“For a while there, I thought that your snow figure was cooler than mine. It was even more magnificent than my shark. But mine didn’t collapse and is therefore superior,” Rin declared.

“The snow will melt completely in two days anyway, so what’s the difference?”

“Yeah… it may not matter in the long run. So, Nanase, have you decided what styles you’ll swim in the upcoming tournament?”

It was the first time Matsuoka had asked him about the relay, and Haru thought that he could brush it off soon enough, just like the snowmen topic.

Oh, how wrong he was.


End file.
